The Chancellor, Masrour Barzani

Masrour Barzani is the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council in Iraqi Kurdistan and a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leadership. Today he is one of the most important figures in the Global Coalition against the Islamic State. He joined the Kurdish resistance fighters, known as Peshmerga or “those who face death”, in 1985 at the age of 16. He was an active participant in the Battle of Khwakurk against Saddam Hussein’s army in 1988. He also participated in the 1991 uprising against Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War and filmed both events.

Despite a tumultuous childhood due to the nature of the Kurdish resistance, Barzani was able to complete his high school education in Iran. After seeing peace restored to the region in 1992, hewent to London for a year-long course in English. Having successfully completed this, he went on to receive a Bachelor’s degree with honors in International Studies from the American University in Washington, D.C. He continued studying Peace and Conflict Resolution for his post graduate studies.

In 1998, he returned to Kurdistan and was elected by the KDP’s 12th Congress to the Central Committee. Later that same year he became part of the KDP Leadership before being appointed General Director of the Protection and Intelligence Agency. In 2010, he received the highest votes of the 13th Congress, was reelected to the Leadership Council and then selected as one of the Politburo members of the KDP. In 2012, he was appointed by the Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani as Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council to oversee security, military intelligence and existing intelligence services.

In 2005, he founded the Barzani Charity Foundation in Iraqi Kurdistan. This non-profit charity organization provides aid to the internally displaced, refugees as well as vulnerable locals, and is modeled on the life, struggle and principles of Mustafa Barzani. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American University Duhok Kurdistan (AUDK). He laid the cornerstone of the project during a ceremony in Duhok province in December 2013. This will be the second American university in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Barzani is married and has four children, three sons and one daughter. He is fluent in Kurdish, Persian and English in addition to understanding Arabic.

A few words about us

The Kurdistan Region Security Council oversees the intelligence and security community in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and, as of August 2014, coordinates Global Coalition airstrikes against ISIL positions. Its elite CTU forces from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) conduct joint operations with coalition forces in a campaign targeting senior ISIL members.